Contractor numbers outstrip US troops

THE number of US-paid private contractors in Iraq now exceeds
that of American combat troops, new figures show, raising fresh
questions about the privatisation of the war and the Government's
capacity to carry out military and rebuilding campaigns.

More than 180,000 civilians - American and foreign - are working
in Iraq under US contracts, State and Defence Department figures
show. Including the recent troop increase, 160,000 American
soldiers and several thousand civilian government employees are
stationed in Iraq.

The number of private contractors, far higher than previously
reported, shows how heavily the Bush Administration has relied on
private companies to carry out the occupation of Iraq - a mission
criticised as being inadequately manned.

"[These numbers] illustrate better than anything that we went in
without enough troops. This is not the coalition of the willing.
It's the coalition of the billing," said Peter Singer, a Brookings
Institution scholar who has written on military contracting.

The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign
contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis - all employed in Iraq by US
tax dollars, the most recent government data show.

The array of private workers promises to be a factor in debates
on a range of policy issues, including the privatisation of
military jobs and the number of Iraqi refugees allowed to resettle
in the US.

But there are signs that even these mounting numbers may not
capture the full picture.

Private security contractors hired to protect government
officials and buildings were not fully counted, industry and
government officials say.

Continuing uncertainty over the numbers of armed contractors
drew special criticism from military experts.

"We don't have control of all the coalition guns in Iraq. That's
dangerous for our country," said William Nash, a retired army
general and reconstruction specialist. The Pentagon "is hiring
guns. You can rationalise it all you want, but that's obscene."

"The only reason we have contractors is to support the war
fighter," said Gary Motsek, an assistant deputy undersecretary of
defence.